August 05, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s penultimate chance for a medal at the ongoing Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan came and went without fanfare as the country’s contingent in the women’s 4×100 metres relay event crossed the line in a 43.25s time, which was only enough for sixth place.
As only the first three finishers advanced from Heat 2 to the second round of races, that was as far as the quartet of Nigerian athletes could go in the sprint relay events at the XXXII Olympiad for another unsuccessful turn.
Running in Lane 4 of the field in the first round of qualifiers, Tobiloba Amusan, Grace Nwokocha, Patience George and bronze-winning long jumper Ese Brume were expected to go beyond the early stages of their event in Tokyo.
The promise of their progress was hinged on the antecedents of the four athletes in the team. Nigeria still boasts of the African record in this event, a time of 42.39, which was set at the Barcelona Games in 1992 and the quartet had a season best of 42.97 set two years ago in Lagos.
These stats had raised expectations for an encouraging contention and a strong outing in Tokyo but they fell behind in the sprint in Heat 2 that Germany won in a season best time of 42.00s on the mark. The Switzerland team immediately followed on a national record time of 42.05s while 42.82s qualified the Chinese athletes for the next round.
Unable to make the cut alongside Nigeria were the quartet teams running their season best records from Poland, at 43.09s, and Brazil with a 43.15s time. Nigeria followed the pair in sixth place. Behind Nigeria, were Denmark in seventh place and the quartet from Trinidad and Tobago.
Nigeria’s final chance for a medal comes up in Friday’s schedule of events, on the wrestling floor, when Nigeria’s freestyle wrestler, the teenager Adijat Avorshai Idris will begin her own Olympics quest with a first round bout against Oksana Vasylivna Livach of Ukraine in the Women’s freestyle 50kg.
As THEWILL reported, Idris established herself as a force to reckon with at her debut on the big stage at the Africa/Oceania Olympic qualifiers in Hammamet, Tunisia in April with eye-catching performances that easily earned the 19-year-old a slot at the Olympics at her first time of asking.
She delivered two technical superiority wins against Egypt’s Nada Mohamed and Debora Ture of Guinea Bissau, scoring 11-0 and 15-4 respectively. Then, she dispatched Algeria’s Ibtissem Doudou in her third round-robin match of the competition.
Although she finally lost 2-1 loss to Tunisian Sarra Hamdi, Idris, who claimed gold at the Baraza Champion of Champions Wrestling tournament in Yenagoa in January, advanced to her maiden Olympics and has the opportunity on Friday to emulate another qualifier through that same tournament in Tunisia, Blessing Oborududu, to a podium finish.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
